There can be great difficulty in installing conventional child car seats (also known as infant carriers, child car seats, child seats, or the like, collectively referred to as “child car seat” or “child car seats”) into vehicles. Generally, this is due to the almost limitless variation in the structure and method of manufacture of conventional child car seats, vehicle seats, and vehicle seat belts.
Getting a good fit between a conventional child car seat and a vehicle seat can be more difficult than manufacturers admit due to any one or a combination of factors. For example, conventional vehicle seatbelts may have automatic locking retractors (ALR), or emergency locking retractors (ELR) or seatbelts that switch between the two. Most new cars' middle seats have shoulder belts, some older ones don't, but all models post 2008 will. Additionally, vehicle seats can have cushions that may be flat or rounded, wide or narrow. Add to this the wide array of dimensions and configurations utilized in the manufacture of conventional child car seats, and the result can be literally thousands of structural combinations to contend with.
To assist the consumer and simplify installation, the federal government required that vehicle seats and most vehicles made after September 2002 feature “lower anchors and tethers for children (also known as “LATCH attachments”). If both the child car seat and vehicle are equipped with LATCH attachments, then there is no need to use the seatbelts to install the child carrier. However, LATCH attachments create a unique set of problems, and not all LATCH child car seats will fit into all vehicles fitted with LATCH attachments, or can fit improperly, or not secure tightly.
Typically, in securing a conventional child seat in the rear-facing condition using standard shoulder and lap belts without LATCH attachments, the vehicle's lap and shoulder belt is threaded through a “belt path” of the child car seat. The latch plate (male end of the seatbelt) may then be inserted into the buckle (female end), then, the installer places a knee in the child seat. Using the installer's full weight on the child car seat to fully compress the vehicle seat, the seat belt is pulled to tighten the seat belt within the belt path of the child car seat. The installer may have to bounce down on the child car seat a few times to achieve the recommended amount of slack in the tightened belt. A similar procedure can be utilized to secure a conventional child car seat in the forward-facing condition to the vehicle seat.
Typically, to secure a child car seat having LATCH attachments in the rear-facing condition to the vehicle seat, the LATCH attachment furthest away from the installer can be hooked onto the corresponding lower anchor of the vehicle seat. The installer may then place a knee on top of the child car seat. Using the installer's full weight to fully compress the vehicle seat, the other LATCH attachment can then be hooked to the other anchor of the vehicle seat and the slack in the belt between the two anchors can be pulled out. The knee can then be removed from the child car seat allowing the vehicle seat to return to a normal uncompressed condition and the child car seat may or may not be firmly secured in relation to the vehicle seat. A similar procedure can be utilized to secure a child car seat having LATCH attachments in the forward-facing condition to the seat of a vehicle.
Regardless of the conventional apparatus and methods used to secure a conventional child car seat to a vehicle seat the prominent problem common to most installations can be insufficient shortening of the seat belt or that direction of forces generated by shorting the seat belt within the belt path result in substantial net forces that allow excessive movement of the child car seat in relation to the vehicle seat.
There would be advantages in an inventive child carrier restraint system and methods of using a child carrier restraint system which provides a solution to each of the above-described problems.